“I wanted to follow you but, uh, no …” by Russel Ray

Contrary to the title, “I wanted to follow you, but uh, no …” the author, Russel Ray, visits my website regularly. Impressed by his writing I reblogged this post on July 12th on this site, and I am re-posting it now. – T.V. Antony Raj

Dear New Follower:

First, let me thank you for following me. I appreciate it.

Now for the more serious stuff….

I decided that I could not follow you. Please, let me explain.

I’m an easygoing Southern boy born and raised in Texas. My paternal grandparents adopted me when I was a couple of months shy of 11. I understand profanity…. four-letter words.

My wise old grandmother, on the other hand, let granddad use enough profanity for both of them. I only heard my wise old grandmother use profanity once. She wouldn’t let me do something that I wanted to do. I was furious and said, “God damn you.” She was only 5’1″ and I was a towering 6’3″. She took me down with a good right that would make Muhammad Ali proud. Then she said softly, “Don’t damn me, damn you.”

[Make note because this will probably be the only time you ever see profanity in my blog.]

She let me cry for five minutes, as she always did when I was punished, always with a whipping, though, never before with a right hook.

[Do parents spank their children anymore, or is that child abuse?]

Then she took me to the bathroom, drew some warm water, wet a washrag, and cleaned my face of the salty tears, dried me, and told me she loved me. She also told me what would happen the next time I used profanity or the Lord’s name in vain.

Love and discipline.

[Do parents discipline their children anymore, or just give them an iPod or iPad?]

So, dear New Follower, I wanted to follow you, I really did. My wise old grandmother taught me to do unto others as they have already done unto me…. Wait! No she didn’t. I taught me that. You followed me so I was going to follow you.

When I got to your blog, though, I found that the title was an absolutely horrible title and I left immediately without even looking around. I felt bad about that, so I returned just a few minutes later. I read your home page and one post. It was no better. I left again, and I won’t be returning.

I’m sorry. I really am, but I simply cannot bring myself to follow you. Every time you publish a new post, I would get an email telling me that “New Follower with a poor choice of words for the blog name” has a new post. I already saw that the titles of your posts are just as bad as the name of your blog.

I consider your choice of words to be very negative, and I’ve already had enough negative people in my life. At the age of 57, I surround myself only with positive people.

My wise old grandmother taught me the beauty of the English language with its million words. She also taught me how cruel, mean, and nasty abuse of the English language can be.

I prefer beauty.

Aesop, the ancient storyteller, told this fable:

Once upon a time, a donkey found a lion’s skin. He tried it on, strutted around, and frightened many animals. Soon a fox came along, and the donkey tried to scare him, too. But the fox, hearing the donkey’s voice, said, “If you want to terrify me, you’ll have to disguise your bray.”

Moral: Clothes may disguise a fool but his words give him away.

Said another way: Profanity is a public announcement of stupidity.

Those might sound cruel and uncaring, but you appear to be young. Not like teaching an old dog new tricks. You have a choice. I would encourage you to be beautiful. Maybe too many people have already told you that. Let me in line.

I don’t know anything about you, but I think you have the potential to be a very beautiful person. I believe that about everyone on Earth, all seven billion of them. It’s potential, though. What you do with that potential is up to you.

Every time you want to use profanity, stop and think of a better way to say what you want to say. There are over a million words in the English language, and there are dictionaries and thesaureses to help you in your struggle.

Maybe some of my favorite four-letter words can help in your struggle:

Love

Free

Help

Pray

Give

Work

Good

Best

Save

Hope

Nice

Kind

Glad

Live

Life

Glow

Amen

True

Luck

Gift

Calm

Holy

Cure

Kiss

Hugs

If you’re reading this, let me know if you change the name of your blog and perhaps I’ll give it another shot at following you. Until then, good luck in finding your place in the world. I hope you find it because I can see that you are searching.

I want only the best for you, and I apologize if I appear to be judgmental. I simply wanted to let you know why I chose not to follow you. We all have to make our choices, and I hope you’ll choose to be like the unopened flower bud and use your potential in a more positive way. The reach of the Internet allows us to influence many people, but that can be good or bad, depending on you and only you.

Archives

Visitors online

Join my RSS feed

Follow me on Facebook

I am a Credible Hulk

Categories

Categories

Disclaimer: All comments are moderated. Comments do not necessarily reflect the views of "Impressions." We reserve the right not to post any comment deemed defamatory, inappropriate, or spam. We reserve the right to edit or delete comments. Anonymous comments are moderated. Once published, comments are visible to search engines and will remain in their archives. If you do not want your identity connected to comments on this site, please refrain from commenting or use a handle or alias instead of your real name.